Derick Sinclair is a frequent inventor who has commercialised previous products and sold the resultant businesses. He was an experienced senior design and development engineer for Chemring Group plc. Derick had the original idea and drives technology and product development. He has invested his life savings and 10 years into the project.
Derick Sinclair is working with Andrew Harrison, who has a background in logistics and technical innovation, supply chain and procurement.
Advanced WaterSave Ltd are offering water savings through its innovative, patented, fully automatic return system. Opening a hot tap starts the system. Good clean water is wasted before hot water comes out of the hot tap. This wastes money for producers and users of water and is bad for the environment. This is the problem the company solve.
The Aquasaver valve has a kinetic return system which uses no electrical power. The valve diverts this water for other uses. Water saved in a typical 4 person dwelling in one year, using published United Utilities consumption figures and extended trials in UK and Australia was in excess of 100M3. Clearly the savings for commercial premises and public buildings are potentially much greater due to the extended pipe runs between boilers and taps.
What is the market opportunity that you have identified? The patented AquaSaver valve offers clear commercial potential across the industrial, commercial and domestic building sectors. A need for such a system has been identified in Australia, Brazil and the USA, as well as the UK. Full compliance with the water regulations in Australia and the UK have been obtained. A mass production capability is now required, followed by regulatory approval for the USA and European markets.
What is your business model? The company is looking for a licensee/ investor to negotiate rights with us to commercialise AquaSaver and to continue to market AquaSaver in the market sectors indicated, so the inventor can gradually exit the business to concentrate on the R&D necessary to develop further water-related inventions, which could eventually be introduced into the company inventory to complement the AquaSaver valve system.
Who is in your team? Derick Sinclair is a serial inventor who has commercialised previous products and sold the resultant businesses. He is working with Andrew Harrison, who has a background in logistics and significant strategic contract negotiating experience as a result of directing a major purchasing department for an overseas Ministry. Andrew was subsequently a qualified business coach with SFEDI and the Growth Accelerator programme.
In Australia the company works with master plumber Greg Hodges and Howard Pietsch, managing director of Pietsch Pty Ltd, which was established in 1987. Mr Hodges was appointed last year as the senior advisor to the Victorian Building Authority, which is the Government building and plumbing regulatory body in the State of Victoria, Australia.(http://www.vba.vic.gov.au/) Mr Hodges would become involved again if the project were to be fully funded and the valve manufactured.
What is your funding strategy for growth? Potential customers as diverse as Anglian Water and United Utilities in the UK; a Singapore based water industry supplies company; and Australian architects, construction and mining companies; and plumbing supplies companies with a national customer base in both Australia and the US, have all expressed an interest in AquaSaver. Financing options include using the bank facilities of a partner manufacturer, attracting a private investor based on costed manufacturing and Letters of Intent, or selling licences to manufacture based on the patents. The company is registered for the SEIS scheme administered by HMRC, which should appeal to high nett worth individuals in UK.
Additional Support.Waterwise offered to supervise formal trials some years ago to record the actual savings in a variety of settings but we cannot engage that facility without manufacturing the water saving valves (http://www.waterwise.org.uk/pages/research-services.html). Housing Associations have expressed interest for the re-build programmes that will follow the government initiative to encourage tenants to buy their rented properties. The Chartered Institute of Plumbing and Heating Engineering (CIPHE) expressed some interest in a franchise based operation 2 years ago.(www.ciphe.org.uk/) Again, no progress can be made until the valve has been manufactured and is available.
Further information, including an informative video, is available from Andrew Harrison. Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
